God’s Thoughts

Me: What is all this howlin’ and yowlin’ I’m hearing.

Prodigal: Sorry, I fell into this plant.

Me: I don’t mind helping.

This is from the book Let the Journey Begin by Max Lucado

We ask for food, only to find provision already made. (How did you know I would be hungry?)

We ask for guidance, only to find answers in God’s ancient story. (How did you know what I would ask?)

God dwells in a different realm….

God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are they even like ours. We aren’t even in the same neighborhood. We’re thinking, Preserve the body; he’s thinking, Save the soul. We dream of a pay raise. He dreams of raising the dead. We avoid pain and seek peace. God uses pain to bring peace. “I’m going to live before I die,” we resolve. “Die, so you can live,” he instructs. We love what rusts. He loves what endures. We rejoice at our successes. He rejoices at our confessions. We show our children the Nike star with the million-dollar smile and say, “Be like Mike.” God points to the crucified carpenter with bloody lips and a torn side and says, “Be like Christ.”

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Prodigal: God’s voice is as loud as your willingness to listen.

Me: That is speaking the truth.

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs

click here to watch the video

Proverbs 9:6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Setting Captives Free

Me: The turkeys are not free to roam today?

Prodigal: Not today.

This is from the book Voice of the Faithful by Beth Moore

In the land of Namibia, we traveled to remote villages, where most practice ancestor worship and traditional tribal religion. We visited homes and presented the gospel when permitted.

At one street ,we again sought the Lord’s guidance. From behind a wire fence, two men called to us. They were prisoners at a jail and asked if we would come in to talk. We knew that dealing with police officers and paperwork would take a long time. So, regretting that we couldn’t visit at that point, we prayerfully handed the men some tracts in their language.

Before we could leave, a man outside the fence stopped us. Dressed in plain clothes, he told us that he was a police officer. The translator openly explained what we were giving to the prisoners. To our surprise, the officer said, “You must come to my home and tell me about Jesus”. He led us to his home behind the jail.

In the yard, the man listened intently to the gospel through the translator. I silently prayed for him the whole time. To our joy, he asked Jesus to be his Lord! But what he said next brought tears to our eyes.

“I’ve been waiting for someone to tell me about Jesus,” said the officer.

The prisoners we met now have someone on the “inside” to explain the tracts and tell them about Jesus. What “prisoners” do you know who need to be set free? Will you share the key to life today?

-M.M. Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa

So shall my word be that goes from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose

Isaiah 55:11

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodialpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

Resolved

 

 

Prodigal:  Time to go to church.

Me:  Yes, and be with the people of the church.

Prodigal:  Yes, God calls us to be with others.

 

This is from the book Men of Faith: Jonathan Edwards by David J. Vaughan

 

Resolved, never to say anything at all against anybody, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and a sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule….

 

Don’t forget this today.  Do not allow others to make your tongue loose.  Remember we are all God’s children.  We are all called to love everyone.  I mean everyone!

 

Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing:  for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.

Isaiah 52:8

 

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org

 

 

Women Lovin’ Jesus

Me: I am here today to cross the swamp, not to fight all of the alligators.

Prodigal: Great focus!

This is a short video devotion on Proverbs.

Click here to watch the video

Proverbs 9:5 “Come, eat of my bread And drink of the wine I have mixed.” (NKJV)

Jennifer Van Allen

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org